She's One of the Boys

Dallas Keller is the stereotypical ideal high school girl you see in the movies; tall, blond, pretty, cheerleader, popular and has a football boyfriend. All Dallas wants to do is enjoy her summer before she starts her senior year in high school, but...

Chapter Twenty-Six

Since having our own version of a homecoming dance in the field, Jason and I couldn't be any happier. Once people at my school got over the shock of their head cheerleader dating the star quarterback from the rival school everything went back to normal. Because of my bold move its actually caused more people to approach me in the halls just to say hi.

It was now the day before Thanksgiving and Jason and I were walking through the mall.

"So are you ready for tomorrow?" He asked as we stood in line at the food court.

Jason asked me last week if I could meet his family for Thanksgiving and I almost choked on my spit. Yes we were dating and eventually this moment was going to happen but I'm not so sure I was ready.

"I guess." I shrugged as I piled food onto the tray.

"You don't wanna meet my family do you?" He asked with a sigh.

I bit my lip before answering, carefully choosing my words so I don't upset him. "It's not that I don't wanna meet them," I trailed off and gulped at his skeptical expression. "I'm just nervous okay? Meeting your family just kind of confirms that we're a serious couple."

"And us dating for months and me putting up with Austin's attitude while meeting your family hasn't made it clear that we're serious?" He asked and clenched his hands into fists.

The sight of his clenched fists brought flashbacks of when Stephen attacked me at football camp and I flinched. "Forget I said anything." I replied with a shake of my head.

"No."

The single word made my stomach turn into knots. I knew what I said no doubt hurt Jason's feelings and I regretted my irrational fear of meeting his family. How bad could it be? I met Stephens parents when we began dating and it wasn't too bad.

"Dallas, if you don't think we're a serious couple after all the shit we've been through then why are we together?" He asked. "If I didn't care about you I wouldn't have even bothered to go through all this effort to keep our relationship going."

His words caught the attention of a few onlookers and I nervously glanced around. A few of the bystanders were teenage girls who looked like they wanted Jason just as bad as I did.

"Do you even wanna be with me?" Jason asked.

"Of course, Jason." I immediately answered.

"You don't act like it sometimes." He harshly shot back and slammed his tray down. "You know what? I need to cool off." He finished and began walking away.

I ignored the side glances and put my own tray down before walking away in the opposite direction. Just from past experiences I knew Jason wanted his alone time and I would give it to him even though all I wanted to do was run into his arms and apologize. His words echoed in my mind, causing me to flinch and immediately feel like shit.

Jason was right. We've been through so much ever since we met at football camp; no other boy would go through so much trouble if they were in Jason's situation. Hell, if I was in Jason's shoes I would've ran away from this roller coaster of a relationship a while ago. The fact that he's stayed this long and wanted me to meet his family only made my feelings for him grow tenfold.

I continued walking around the mall to window shop until I ended up on the opposite end where there was a small indoor skate park. A familiar head of bronze hair could be seen between the railings and my heart swelled. Jason was sulking on a bench while watching a few younger teenagers do various tricks on their skateboards.

I watched him from afar for a few more minutes and decided to walk over and talk to him until I saw two girls approach him. Even though it was a brief glance, I recognized the girls from the food court where Jason and I got into our little spat. My anger boiled inside of my stomach as I witnessed them shamelessly flirt with Jason and try everything to gain his full attention. The brunette even went as far as to slightly lower her shirt so her cleavage stood out but Jason didn't even look in her direction. Jason briefly glanced at the blond haired girl and nodded at something she said; he answered but I couldn't tell what he said. Whatever he said got rid of the girls but not before the brunette slipped s piece of paper in his hand, no doubt her number.